Competitive
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the first Counter-Strike game to include a built-in competitive mode to appeal to the professional and competitive player by being structured similarly to professional tournament play including swapping sides, friendly fire, and locked teams. Overview Unlike casual mode, competitive mode pits two teams of 5 against each other in a 30 round match. It is not possible to switch sides during the game except at the halftime. After the first 15 rounds, the game reaches halftime and the two teams switch sides. The first team to score 16 points wins the game regardless of the round number. If both teams score a total of 15 points by the end of the 30th round, the match will end in a tie. Games can also end prematurely if one team surrenders to the other. A vote to surrender must be unanimously agreed upon, and the vote is locked until a team member abandons the match. The economy of the competitive mode is different from that of the casual mode. All kill awards are doubled compared to the casual mode, the money cap is $16000, and all players start the pistol round with $800 instead of $1000. Other differences include the ability to purchase two flashbangs instead of just one and the ability to carry 4 grenades instead of 3. Friendly Fire and team collision is always on and cannot be turned off. Also, all armor and kits must be purchased at the start of the round. The Zeus x-27 TAZER used to be completely unavailable but after an update, it was made available for $100, and later $400 Unlike the casual game modes, the player is given the option to choose which map will be played by using checkboxes. By default maps from the active duty group are already selected, however, the player can choose to include maps from the reserves group and, if there is an active operation, the operations group as well. Like all matchmaking options, the player can invite friends into the game lobby before entering the game. However, the player cannot play with more than four friends unless nine friends total are in the lobby. The player can re-watch a completed match by clicking on the Watch tab from the main menu. The 6 most recent matches are temporally stored for the player to watch and analyze as a spectator. Professional play Competitive mode is used exclusively in professional tournaments such as ESL One tournaments, or professional gaming leagues such as CEVO. The standard competitive setup can be modified slightly to accommodate the tournament/leagues rules, such as 6 rounds overtime in the case of ties. Professional gaming is also referred to as eSports, and is closely tied to the CS:GO community. A portion of the proceeds from eSports keys go towards cash prizes in official Valve sponsored tournaments. Skill groups Starting with the update, skill groups were introduced to help the player understand how the competitive matchmaking works. When entering a Competitive game, the matchmaking system will try to place the player with other players around the same skill level. Competitive matchmaking cooldown If a player has abandoned a match, cheated, or otherwise poor sportsmanship, the player will receive a competitive matchmaking cooldown. When a player has a competitive matchmaking cooldown, the player cannot participate in a competitive match for the duration of the cooldown. The player will be notified of a cooldown by receiving a yellow banner at the top of the main menu page with the remaining length of the cooldown. Reasons for a cooldown Most of the actions triggering a cooldown occur during competitive matchamking. However, some actions outside of competitive game modes can trigger or lengthen a player's cooldown period. * Abandoning a match - Leaving a competitive match mid-game, through direct player action or in-action. The first abandon has a 30-minute cool down, the second is 2 hours, then 24 hours, and one week. If you haven’t abandoned for a week you would cool down by one level (for example, from 24 hours back to 2 hours). In fact, losing network connection while in-game will yield the same result. * Team disruption - activities such as teamkilling, excessive team damage, or a player being repeated vote-kicked from matches in competitive matchmaking. * Cheating - Use of 3rd party programs, scripts, or other hacking techniques in competitive or casual matchmaking. * Idling - Excessive idling on competitive or casual matchmaking servers. Cooldown lengths During the cooldown period, the player cannot play any competitive matchmaking, but can still play any of the casual game modes. Cooldown levels drop by 1 level after a week with no additional offenses. If one has already reached a 4th level cooldown and gets another cooldown the level will rise, but the duration of the cooldown will not be extended. There is no known limit to how much levels a person can get. * Level 1 - 30 minutes * Level 2 - 2 hours * Level 3 - 24 hours * Level 4 - 7 days Trivia * Some claims have been made as to a player being banned for kicking teammates. However, there is no proof to back up these claims. External Links *Competitive Skill Groups FAQ on CS:GO Blog *Competitive Matchmaking FAQ on CS:GO Blog Category:Counter-Strike: Global Offensive